Sonia's going to the UN

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, August 3, 2007 : Restaking her claim to the Mahatma’s legacy, Sonia Gandhi is aiming at a high-profile international debut at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly in New York on October 2.

It’s all very hush-hush, but fact is, that both the Congress party as well as the Ministry of External Affairs are furiously working towards creating a perfect constellation of stars for the Congress president.

For a start, India persuaded a record 142 countries to co-sponsor a resolution in June proposing that October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, be named International Non-Violence Day.

MEA sources pointed out that the Satyagraha Conference, organised by the Congress party in January to commemorate 100 years of the Mahatma’s launch of satyagraha as an instrument of non-violence, had pushed to give October 2 international status.

So Sonia Gandhi, likely to be accompanied by her son Rahul and key members of the Congress party, will speak at the UN on October 2.

Clearly, though, Sonia’s possessive feelings about the Mahatma’s legacy will be underlined with a trip to South Africa this month.

Mixing memory and contemporary politics, she will give a speech at a Cape Town think-tank, plus visit the major Gandhi sites, such as Durban, Phoenix and Johannesburg. She will also meet Nelson Mandela and wants to go to Robben Island, where he spent 26 years in jail.

She will also visit the headquarters of the African National Congress in Johannesburg.

Sonia’s desire to speak at the UN General Assembly has, meanwhile, thrown a spanner in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s own schedule at the UN. India’s turn to speak at the UN is on September 28, which is much too close to October 2.

Significantly, South Block will also decide this week whether the PM makes a flying visit to US President George Bush’s ranch at Crawford, Texas, in early September or not, as a thanksgiving tour to Bush for pushing the Indo-UD nuclear deal.

If he does go to Crawford, despite Left pressure, he might skip the UNGA altogether. If he doesn’t go, then he and Sonia Gandhi may well be in New York on consecutive weeks.
ENDS

ENDS